(Minghui.org) Tailai Prison has intensified its persecution of detained Falun Gong practitioners since November 2015, when a new mandate was issued to specifically target practitioners who refuse to give up their belief.
As no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong, the imprisoned practitioners never considered themselves criminals and thus refused to take part in forced labor. Their peaceful protest against the false imprisonment was met with this new mandate.
The mandate stipulated that all able-bodied inmates must participate in forced labor or else to face severe punishment, including physical torture, restriction of mobility within the prison facility, and revocation of rights to family visits, communication, better meals, and making purchases.
Many of the 21 practitioners confirmed to remain imprisoned have been subjected to various forms of torture since the mandate became effective.
Mr. Xu Wenlong, who was sentenced to 8 years in 2012, was once made to go through a 16-day torture marathon for refusing to cooperate with the prison guards.
The guards placed him in a solitary confinement cell on December 3, 2015. They sat him in a chair with his hands tied behind his back and his feet shackled. There was also a restraining belt strapped across his chest.
Mr. Xu made a few drawings depicting what he went through. As he indicated in the captions, the guards used chili pepper spray on him while he was immobilized in the chair. He protested against the mistreatment, only to be sprayed even more times, causing his eyesight declined sharply. His face and nose also became swollen.
Mr. Xu was unable to walk when he was finally removed from the chair on December 9. The guards next shackled his hands and feet together to a ring anchored to the floor.
http://www.minghui.org/mh/article_images/2016-11-18-xuwenlong_01.jpgMr. Xu’s drawing depicting the floor anchor torture
Mr. Xu said in the caption that he felt extremely cold with only one thin layer of clothes on. There was no cushion for him to sit on and his buttocks developed blisters after prolonged sitting on the concrete floor.
The guards kept him restrained to the floor anchor until December 18, 2015.
Fast forward to July 2016, when Mr. Xu was punished again for refusing to renounce his faith and protesting against the mistreatment of imprisoned practitioners. The guards revoked his right to family visits, outside communication, and buy things from the canteen for two straight months.
In addition to Mr. Xu, Wu Yuanlong, Wang Lansheng, Guan Rian, Zhang Haitao, a practitioner surnamed Zhang, Wei Changfeng, Zhang Zuojun, Shen Pengchong, Ju Zhiyuan, Shi Shixin, Zhang Haitao, Zhang Xiaoguang, Liu Fubin, Shen Shirong, Li Qi, Xu Shengli, Shi Mengwen, Zhang Haiou, Zhang Yutang, and Zhang Yuliang have also been subjected to various forms of abuse.
Mr. Zhang Yuliang, Mr. Zhang Yutang, and Mr. Guan Ri’an were made to go through “freezing” torture on November 8, 2015. They were stripped naked and forced to sit on the cold floor in a room with the windows wide open. They were forced to hold snowballs in their hands and would be beaten if they dropped the snowballs.
Mr. Wang Lansheng and Mr. Xu Shengli were put in solitary confinement on December 2, 2015. Both men went on a hunger strike to protest, but were force fed.
Mr. Wei Changfeng was made to suffer the floor anchor torture for 15 straight days in June 2016.
Mr. Wang Shuqing was deprived of sleep and had cold water poured over his head for two straight days in August 2016.